To the Mont Albert Cricket Club Community,
Over the winter months, your Mont Albert Cricket Club Committee has commenced meetings to discuss planning for the 2020/21 cricket season. We wanted to take this opportunity to provide you with an update about the current circumstances and some of this planning.
The current situation in Victoria is highly stressful. This can trigger feelings of fear, boredom, frustration and sadness. Please reach out if you need assistance of any kind – our committee members can help you source the assistance you need. Or, you could reach out to a teammate, coach or mentor within the Mont Albert CC community.
As a club, we strongly believe in providing a fun and safe environment for persons of all ages and abilities to play competitive cricket. This applies to all at every level of cricket, no matter what your personal or financial circumstances might be. As always, if you’d like to be a part of Mont Albert CC, all you have to do is come along.
As we are all aware, nothing has gone to plan this year and winter community sport has either been cancelled or is currently postponed.
Return to Play & Training
At this stage, the Eastern Cricket Association (ECA) has advised us that the resumption of junior and senior cricket is planned for late October 2020 as a best case scenario. However, they are also making contingency plans for later start dates depending on the government restrictions at the time. Although this is quite a vague timeline, we understand that planning in this environment is incredibly challenging and the season is highly dependent on the relaxation of restrictions in Victoria – it is our understanding that Melbourne will need to be out of stages three and four level restrictions for cricket to commence. This will also delay the commencement of cricket training.
We plan to keep the Mont Albert CC community informed as new updates are provided to the committee. Please keep checking your emails, our social media pages (Facebook, Instagram & Twitter) and our website for updates as they come to hand.
Our Junior Coordinators – Dani Hedley and Howard Bertus – will be obtaining updates from the ECA over the next week and are keen to provide further information to junior families shortly.
Captain/Coach
We are very pleased to announce that Jack Joslin will again captain the club in 2020/21. It is also our pleasure to introduce our 2020/21 club coach – Mark Simpson. Mark is a highly credentialled batsman coming straight out of Premier Cricket, where he has scored over 4000 runs and established himself as a key leader. Mark (or Simmo, as he will no doubt introduce himself) will be sending a more specific Senior update in the coming week, so stay tuned for that.
Playing & Training Conditions
We understand that cricket may look a bit different when it returns. Physical distancing, new ball shining techniques, reduced change-room access, and lots of hand sanitiser. Whilst nothing has been set in stone, we understand that Cricket Victoria are currently working on both training and game day changes that will help keep us all safe and healthy.
The club has also appointed two COVID Safety Officers to introduce new safety protocols and procedures. This will also contribute to a safe return to training and play. The COVID Safety Officers are Dani Hedley (Juniors) and Kiel Johnsen (Seniors & Veterans). Both Dani and Kiel are currently sourcing resources for the season to assist in our return to operations.
Financials
The Mont Albert CC committee believes that we are very well positioned to combat the anticipated financial challenges that COVID-19 may bring this season. We have applied for and received a few grants that have been made available. And we have been aptly supported by our wonderful sponsors, some of which are doing things tough given the current circumstances.
The current circumstances are affecting everyone, and our sponsors are not immune to these impacts. If you have the capacity to do so, please reach out to our current sponsors.
We thank our sponsors for their ongoing support:
The Bendigo Bank – Surrey Hills Branch; 2U Grocer; Miller Hannaker & Middleton; Breadstreet Bakery; Melbourne Oral & Facial Surgery; Crepes for Change; Harp of Erin Hotel; Kukri; Sports in Focus; Life Risk Insurance Solutions.
We look forward to welcoming you all back when possible and will provide all the support we can to ensure cricket remains safe at MACC in 2020/21.
Please reach out if you have any questions or need support in any way.
Warmest Regards,
Mont Albert Cricket Club Committee